Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Benign |
BenignAdjective1. Pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence; "a benign smile"; "the benign sky"; "the benign influence of pure air. 2. Of disposition or manner; "the benign ruler of millions"; "benign intentions". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "benign" was first used: sometime in the early 14th century. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Health | Not cancerous; does not invade nearby tissue or spread to other parts of the body. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Benign."
Synonym: BenignSynonym: benignant (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: malign (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Salubrity | Adjective: salubrious, salutary, salutiferous; wholesome; healthy, healthful; sanitary, prophYlactic, benign, bracing, tonic, invigorating, good for, nutritious; hygeian, hygienic. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | When from our better selves we have too long Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop, Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, How gracious, how benign, is Solitude. (Next Stop Wonderland; writing credit: Brad Anderson; Lyn Vaus) Hmmit looks benign. (Scrubs; writing credit: Gabrielle Allan; Janae Bakken) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Shown is a PET scan (positron emission tomography) of a 17 year old girl with a longstanding history of epilepsy, who has a brain tumor classified as a grade 1 astrocytoma. The PET scan indicates that the tumor is not metabolizing excess glucose and is therefore benign. PET scans allow doctors to tell if a tumor is malignant without resorting to a surgical biopsy.Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |  | Histopathology of lymph node showing Hamazaki-Wesenberg bodies, which are benign yellow -brown football-shaped structures sometimes confused with infectious agents.Credit: CDC. |
 | Histopathology of lymph node showing iron stain-negative Hamazaki-Wesenberg bodies, which are benign yellow -brown football-shaped structures sometimes confused with infectious agents (iron stain).Credit: CDC. |  | Gummatous lesions due to tertiary syphilis occur many years after initial untreated primary syphilis. The tumors are benign and if properly treated, the gummas will heal and the patient will recover in most cases.Credit: CDC. |
 | This patient presented with tertiary syphilitic gummas of the nose mimicking basal cell carcinoma. The gummatous tumors are benign and if properly treated, will heal and the patient will recover in most cases.Credit: CDC. |  | A relatively benign merman complete with scales caught in the Baltic Sea in 1531 according to Johann Zahn's sources. In: "Specula physico-mathematico-historica ...." by Johann Zahn.1696 Library Call Number Q155 .Z33 1696.Credit: Treasures of the Library. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | No club drug is benign. (references) | |
The plaque itself is benign, or noncancerous. (references) | ||
Benign CNS tumors can nevertheless be dangerous. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Korea | Due to the worsening food conditions in the country, the Government at times has taken a benign approach to those who violate internal travel rules, allowing citizens to leave their villages to search for food, and there are reports of large-scale movement of persons across the country in search of food. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | LOOKING-:GLASS:, n. A vitreous plane upon which to display a fleeting show for man's disillusion given. The King of Manchuria had a magic looking-glass, whereon whoso looked saw, not his own image, but only that of the king. A certain courtier who had long enjoyed the king's favor and was thereby enriched beyond any other subject of the realm, said to the king: "Give me, I pray, thy wonderful mirror, so that when absent out of thine august presence I may yet do homage before thy visible shadow, prostrating myself night and morning in the glory of thy benign countenance, as which nothing has so divine splendor, O Noonday Sun of the Universe!" Please with the speech, the king commanded that the mirror be conveyed to the courtier's palace; but after, having gone thither without apprisal, he found it in an apartment where was naught but idle lumber. And the mirror was dimmed with dust and overlaced with cobwebs. This so angered him that he fisted it hard, shattering the glass, and was sorely hurt. Enraged all the more by this mischance, he commanded that the ungrateful courtier be thrown into prison, and that the glass be repaired and taken back to his own palace; and this was done. But when the king looked again on the mirror he saw not his image as before, but only the figure of a crowned ass, having a bloody bandage on one of its hinder hooves -- as the artificers and all who had looked upon it had before discerned but feared to report. Taught wisdom and charity, the king restored his courtier to liberty, had the mirror set into the back of the throne and reigned many years with justice and humility; and one day when he fell asleep in death while on the throne, the whole court saw in the mirror the luminous figure of an angel, which remains to this day. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | Union is recommended as well by the free and benign principles of our Government, extending its blessings to every individual, as by the other eminent advantages attending it. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | The effective operation of such motives would have prevented the adoption of the Constitution under which we have so long lived and under the benign influence of which our beloved country has so signally prospered. |
James K. Polk | 1845-1849 | Beneath its benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. |
Franklin Pierce | 1853-1857 | Good citizens may well claim the protection of good laws and the benign influence of good government, but a claim for office is what the people of a republic should never recognize. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Benign" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Benign" is used about 487 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 487 | 12,274 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "benign": benign climate ♦ benign lymphogranulomatosis ♦ benign mucosal pemphigoid ♦ benign neglect ♦ benign neoplasm ♦ benign polyp ♦ benign prostatic hyperplasia ♦ Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy ♦ benign tumor ♦ benign tumour ♦ Schaumann benign lymphogranulomatosis. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "benign": benign-looking. | |
Ending with "benign": ozone-benign. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "benign"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | zemërmirë (beneficent, benignant, good hearted, kindhearted), i parrezikshëm (benignant, harmless, innocuous, innoxious, safe), i mirë (canny, carriageable, decent, desirable, fine, gentle, good, good tempered, goodly, handsome, keen, kind, kindhearted, kindly, lovely, nice, pleasant, pukka, salable, tops, virtuous), dashamirës (benevolent, benignant, caring, chummy, sympathetic, well disposed, well meaning, well wisher, well-minded). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كريم (big hearted, cream, custard, decent, generous, gentle, good, good hearted, good natured, gracious, high minded, honorable, honourable, kind, kindly, lavish, liberal, noble, noble-minded, obliging, open handed, precious, respectable, valuable, warm-hearted), لطيف (affable, agreeable, amiable, bland, charming, civil, civilized, complaisance, complaisant, courteous, courtly, decent, delicate, fair, fair-spoken, fine, friendly, genial, gentle, good natured, gracious, handsome, kind, kindly, light, mild, nice, pet, pleasant, polite, poppet, pretty, refreshing, smooth, soft, suave, sweet, tender, tenuous, thin, urbane), حميد غير خطرك, عذب (agonize, agreeable, bedevil, charming, chasten, crucify, devil, dulcet, freshen, grilled, harrow, harry, hearty, leisurely, liquid, murder, palmy, persecute, pillory, plague, quiet, rack, rack one's brains, scourge, silken, silky, sleek, smite, smooth, smooth spoken, soft, suave, sweet, sympathetic, tantalize, tease, tender, torment, torture, wrench, wring). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | мек (balmy, benignant, bland, creamy, cushiony, doughy, ductile, euphemistic, flabby, flaccid, floppy, genial, green, kindly, lambent, limp, medium, meek, mellow, melodious, melting, mild, pillowy, rich, round, silken, silver, soft, supple, tender, weak, well-padded, yielding), мил (agreeable, amiable, comfortable, cute, darling, dear, engaging, genial, good, kind, likable, likeable, lovable, mil, nice, sweet), благ (avuncular, benignant, charitable, dovelike, gentle, good tempered, gracious, kindly, mild, suave, sweet), плодороден (benignant, corny, fat, fecund, fertile, fruitful, generous, hearty, plenteous, productive, prolific, rank, rich), добър (fair, good, good natured, kind, kindly, lucky, nice, plummy, pretty, round, savoury, sound, tenderhearted, useful, warmhearted, well), доброкачествен (good, innocent, laudable). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 良性 (Benignly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | blahodárný (beneficial, salutary, soothing, wholesome), benigní, vlídný (affable, amiable, approachable, cordial, courteous, genial, good, gracious, hospitable, kindly, mild, sweet, sweet-tempered), příznivý (auspicious, beneficial, fair, favorable, favourable, hopeful, hospitable, promising, propitiatory, propitious, prosperous), mírný (balmy, easygoing, equable, genial, gentle, lamblike, lenient, light, meek, mild, moderate, placid, quiet, reasonable, slow, sober, soft, tame, temperate, unruffled), laskavý (affable, amiable, benevolent, benignant, caring, charitable, decent, friendly, gentle, good, gracious, kind, kindly, neighborly, obliging, open-hearted, soft). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | benign (non-malignant), godartet (benignant, non malignant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | goedaardig (benignant, good-hearted, harmless, kind, minor, non malignant, of no account, safe, unimportant), onschuldig (guiltless, innocent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | benigna. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | góðsligur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مهربان (Affable, Amiable, Blithe, Charitable, Clement, Comkpliant, Gentle, Good, Gracious, Humane, Kind, Kindly, Meek, Mellow, Merciful, Mild, Open, Soft, Tenderminded), ملایم (Bland, Breezy, Clement, Downy, Easy, Equable, Gentle, Kindly, Lenient, Meek, Mild, Moderate, Sedate, Smooth, Soft, Suave), لطیف (Delicate, Fine, Gaseous, Gentle, Gossamer, Rare, Rosewater, Soft, Subtle, Tender, Tenuous, Volatile), خوش خیم , بی خطر (Safe, Secure, Sound). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | hyvälaatuinen (benignant, non malignant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | bénin (benignant, Benin, Republic of Benin, The People's Republic of Benin). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | gutartig (benignant, good natured, good-natured, non malignant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | καλοήθης (benignant, non malignant). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | טוב לב (affable, generous, good hearted, goodness, kind, kindhearted, kindness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | üdvös (advisable, remedial, salutary, wholesome), jóindulatú (benevolent, benignant, friendly, gracious, kind, kindly, mild, pious, placid, propitious, well disposed, well meaning, well-wishing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | benigno (benignant, genial, innocent, innocuous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 良性 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | りょうせい (amphibian, amphibious, boarder, boarding student, both sexes). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 자비로운 (Charitable, Compassionate, gracious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | meiygh (approving, indulgent, sentimental), eddrym (airy, airy material, bird-witted, empty, empty as head, feint, flighty, light, lightweight, shallow, slight, weak, weak as blow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | enignbay benigno (benignant, boon, favorable reply, favourable reply, mercifulness, mild, propitious). (various references) blajin (easy-tempered, gentle, good natured, good tempered, meek, mild, mildly, placable, sweet), blând (bland, Clement, docile, dovelike, easy-tempered, fair, genial, gentle, gently, good hearted, good natured, harmless, lenient, meek, mild, mildly, Pacific, passive, peaceable, placable, silken, soft, steady, sweet, tame, tender, tractable), benign, dulce (amorously, bland, candied, charming, dear, dessert, dulcet, flattering, fresh, genial, gentle, gently, honeyed, lovable, luscious, melliferous, mellow, melodious, slack, smooth, soft, suave, sugared, sweet, sweetly, sweets, tender, winning). (various references) великодушный (benignant, big, bighearted, big-hearted, forgiving, generous, great-hearted, large-hearted, magnanimous, noble, noble-minded, open handed, open-hearted), неопасный, милостивый (benignant, gracious), благотворный (beneficent, beneficial, benignant, salutary). (various references) caomh (gentle, meek, tender). (various references) blag (bland, clement, genial, gentle, lenient, light, meek, mellow, melting, mild, permissive, placable, tender, unctuous), benigni, dobroćudan (benevolent, good humoured, good natured, good tempered, good-humored, well-natured), dobar (fine, good, kind, regular, wholesome). (various references) benigno (benignant, inoffensive, kind, kindly, mild, non malignant). (various references) välvillig (benevolent, friendly, kindly, propitious), godartad (benignant, non malignant, nonmalignant), benign (benignant, non malignant). (various references) เนื้องอก (ไม่อันตราย). (various references) yararlı (advantageous, beneficial, benignant, efficacious, good, handy, healthful, healthy, helpful, of use, profitable, salubrious, salutary, sanative, sanatory, subservient, useful, wholesome), tehlikesiz (benignant, innocuous, safe, uncritical), sevecen (affectionate, benignant, caressing, compassionate, endearing, heartthrob, sisterly, tender), iyicil (benignant), iyi kâlpli (benignant, bighearted, decent, good hearted, grandfatherly, great-hearted, kind, kind hearted, kindhearted, kindly, large-hearted, warmhearted, warm-hearted), iyi huylu (good natured, good tempered, in fine feather, of good character, spleenless, sweet-natured, sweet-tempered, well mannered, well-natured, well-tempered). (various references) сприятливий (accessory, advantageous, auspicious, benefic, bright, conducive, conducive to, congenial, contributory, favorable, favourable, fortunate, kindly, opportune, profitable, propitious, prosperous, subservient, white), родючий (battle, fecund, fertile, fruitful, generous, luxuriant, productive, rich), незагрозливий, милостивий (benefic, charitable, gracious, merciful, propitious), ласкавий (accommodating, affectionate, grandmotherly, soft), лагідний (accommodating, appeasable, dovelike, gentle, lamblike, livable, meek, pacable, placable), покірний (acquiesced, acquiescent, duteous, lamblike, meek, obedient, obediential, obeisant, prideless, resigned, submissive, tame). (various references) tirion (bland, gentle, gracious, kind, tender), mwyn (bland, dear, gentle, kind, mild, mineral, ore, sake). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | benignus. (various references) |
| Avestan | 200-600 | hudå. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "benign": benignancies, benignancy, benignant, benignantly, benignities, benignity, benignly. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "benign": unbenign. (additional references) | |
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"Benign" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: banig, Banin, banine, beening, beginn, begnign, behing, beign, beinign, beinng, Bendigo, beneign, Bengi, Bengie, bengin, bengn, beni, benian, benig, benigh, benighn, Benigna, benignum, benijn, benine, bening, benings, Benrig, bensing, Benzin, berign, bezign, Blenning, boign, brnign, bunnin, Henigan, Lenygon, oeningen. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "benign" (pronounced bunī"n) |
| 3 | -n ī" n | nine. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-e-g-i-n-n" | |
-1 letter: begin, being, benni, binge. | |
-2 letters: bine, gibe, gien, nine. | |
-3 letters: beg, ben, big, bin, eng, gen, gib, gie, gin, inn, neb, nib. | |
-4 letters: be, bi, en, in, ne. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-e-g-i-n-n" | |
+1 letter: beaning, bending, inbeing. | |
+2 letters: beginner, benaming, benching, benignly, bingeing, blending, deboning, enabling, enrobing, inbeings, nonbeing, ringbone, unbenign. | |
+3 letters: absenting, bannering, bantering, battening, beaconing, beckoning, bedamning, beduncing, beelining, beginners, beginning, belonging, bemeaning, bemoaning, bendaying, bengaline, benignant, benignity, benumbing, besnowing, blenching, bonneting, brazening, bunkering, burdening, debunking, ebonising, ebonizing, embanking, englobing, ennobling, entombing, enwombing, nonbeings, numbering, rebinding, ringbones, subvening, unbearing, unbelting, unbending. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 65 6E 69 67 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-... . -. .. --. -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01100101 01101110 01101001 01100111 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B e n i g n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 0065 006E 0069 0067 006E |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)367180757380 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Quotations: Speeches | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
